Blue Zones<\/a> first got here and they released their alcohol and tobacco policy, I did have some informal discussions with some of my fellow board members about smoking in the parks,\u201d Ropski said. \u201cIn our discussions, we spoke on how it could be a public health concern, but we also discussed the value of our parks and natural spaces and their ability to filter the air and how removing the ability to smoke in those spaces could actually raise a public health concern.\u201d<\/p>\n\u201cSeeing this sort of compromise here tonight in eliminating its proximity to the parks is an excellent compromise,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
The ordinance states the ban on smoking includes but is not limited to areas where baseball, basketball, football, handball, soccer, softball, tennis and volleyball are being played.<\/p>\n
Youth violence<\/p>\n
Also Wednesday, two residents addressed council asking the city to address violence following the May 15 shooting at a McDonald\u2019s on Union Boulevard that killed Tymell Millan-Mason, Bethlehem.<\/p>\n
Jeani Garcia, an anti-violence activist who founded the nonprofit organization Mother2Mother after losing a child to gun violence, said the community needs to ask itself the harder questions.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt’s not about blame but about responsibility,\u201d Garcia said. \u201cWhat are we doing collectively to create communities where young people feel safe?\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cFunding decisions reflect values, and when millions (of dollars) are invested in some buildings, we should ask what are we investing in? We can invest in people, facilities and prevention,\u201d she said. \u201cPrevention is infrastructure. too.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBut I’m here tonight because I still believe the city could lead,\u201d Garcia added. \u201cI believe in government, and I believe community can work together.\u00a0<\/p>\n
North Ninth\u00a0Street resident Jose Rivera said focusing on security cameras and technology is not enough.<\/p>\n
\u201cI need everyone to understand one thing: Technology cannot love a child,\u201d Rivera said. \u201cTechnology cannot mentor a teenager. A system cannot replace a human connection. These tools only respond after violence has happened, and they only document the pain, they don’t prevent it.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cPrevention starts long before the police tape goes up,\u201d he said. \u201cIt starts with relationships and trusted adults with mentors, outreach workers, counselors, coaches and community members willing to show up before a child feels abandoned, angry and hopeless.\u201d<\/p>\n
Councilmember Mota called the shooting \u201cheavy duty.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd we should address this and have the opportunity to speak with the police chief because I know that he has a lot of things that he\u2019s planning to move forward,\u201d Mota said. \u201cHe wants to collaborate, and I believe that hopefully there’s going to be, you know, a plan. You know, something needs to happen.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ALLENTOWN, Pa. \u2013 The air around Allentown\u2019s city parks will soon be a bit less polluted for children…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":198615,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[119,2748,121,120,14934,6216,20949,2998,73790,88110],"class_list":["post-198614","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-allentown","tag-allentown","tag-allentown-city-council","tag-allentown-headlines","tag-allentown-news","tag-cynthia-mota","tag-jeani-garcia","tag-jose-rivera","tag-kyle-ropski","tag-smoking-cessation","tag-tymell-millan-mason"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/198614","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=198614"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/198614\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/198615"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=198614"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=198614"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=198614"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}